Leisure Capital Management Decreases Stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Leisure Capital Management lessened its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,234 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 942 shares during the period. Leisure Capital Management’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $543,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,964,394 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,061,277,000 after acquiring an additional 600,994 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 19,782,909 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,827,347,000 after buying an additional 809,605 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 57.9% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,516,260 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $622,695,000 after buying an additional 2,390,137 shares during the period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 3.1% during the first quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,964,168 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $283,256,000 after acquiring an additional 88,205 shares during the period. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 14.2% during the second quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 2,778,812 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $256,679,000 after acquiring an additional 344,465 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.08, for a total value of $330,400.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,101,530.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, VP Daveen Chopra sold 1,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total transaction of $87,437.50. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 29,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,051,843.35. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.08, for a total transaction of $330,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,101,530.88. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 16,250 shares of company stock valued at $1,099,238. 1.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on EW. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of Edwards Lifesciences from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $102.00 to $70.00 in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $83.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Wolfe Research raised Edwards Lifesciences from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $103.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $75.77.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

Shares of EW stock traded down $0.57 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $68.33. 1,128,661 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,563,410. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $67.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $79.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 2.87 and a current ratio of 3.71. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 12-month low of $58.93 and a 12-month high of $96.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.13.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 22.35% and a net margin of 24.55%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.66 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.71 EPS for the current year.

Edwards Lifesciences Company Profile

Edwards Lifesciences Corporation provides products and technologies for structural heart disease and critical care monitoring in the United States, Europe, Japan, and internationally. It offers transcatheter heart valve replacement products for the minimally invasive replacement of aortic heart valves under the Edwards SAPIEN family of valves system; and transcatheter heart valve repair and replacement products to treat mitral and tricuspid valve diseases under the PASCAL PRECISION and Cardioband names.